Hon Chair, hon members, the thrust of this debate is about appropriating money for the state to be able to meet its requirements. These allocations should be linked to the mandate we received from the people of South Africa, guided by the Freedom Charter, the January 8 Statement, the national and local government manifestos and, lastly, the state of the nation address. This mandate is underpinned by the drive to eradicate poverty, create jobs and ensure that growth is shared amongst all the people.
The Department of Public Enterprises has a central role to play in terms of fulfilling this mandate, through its oversight and shareholder/manager role with regard to state-owned enterprises. The restructuring of state-owned enterprises seeks to promote economic growth, socioeconomic development and ultimately a better life for all. The ANC believes that this remains the role of SOEs in terms of their being central to the development of the state.
Thus it is important that the state remains the main shareholder in these enterprises in order to drive the national agenda of democratic revolution. It is our belief that these strategic areas should not be left to the market forces as they are unable to, on their own - and have no track record of doing this - redress historical imbalances.
The ANC believes that our state-owned enterprises can be more effective and efficient. Therefore we are supportive of the programme to restructure these entities to meet their developmental roles. However, we are equally adamant that such interventions should not be to the detriment of our strategic objectives, namely creating jobs, eradicating poverty and creating a better life for all.
The Department of Public Enterprises has been on track in ensuring that the state drives development through the public enterprises. The appropriation for the Department of Public Enterprises, with the exception of the R2 billion that has just been allocated to Denel, as Comrade Chris Gololo outlined, has remained more or less constant, which points to the DPE's sound financial management.
To a certain degree, the same cannot be said of all the state-owned enterprises. As we have stated before as the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, we would have preferred that the various turnaround strategies be implemented earlier by these SOEs. The case in point is Alexkor, which the ANC believes can play an important role in contributing to the economic development of the Alexandra Bay community in particular, and the Namaqualand region in general.
We are extremely concerned about the financial position of Alexkor and welcome the Department of Public Enterprises' continued support for this vital state-owned enterprise.
Kwaye sinethemba lokuba lo mcimbi waseAlexkor, onxulumene nomhlaba nabantu balaa ndawo, uya kuthi wakuqukunjelwa urhulumente, esebenzisa iSebe lezeziMali, akwazi ukunika inkxaso eyiyo khon' ukuze iAlexkor ikwazi ukwenza umsebenzi wayo. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[We hope that after the matter regarding Alexkor, which has something to do with land owned by people in that area, has been concluded, the government and the Department of Finance will be able to render their support in order that Alexkor could move forward with the task that is expected of it.]
Whilst we continue to be complimentary of Eskom, we feel that the developmental needs of the country will require it to increase its generation capacity. In this context, we welcome their short-term strategy in relation to recent outages. We also support their long-term strategy to meet the ever-increasing demand caused by higher-than-expected growth rates.
We welcome the decision to move SA Airways from Transnet, which allows Transnet to focus on its core mandate of being a freight carrier.
We further welcome the fact that the relevant unions and Transnet management are working together to address the challenges arising from the restructuring process. In seeking to resolve these issues, both parties should be guided by the mandate that was given to the ANC when it was voted into power, that is that they should remain aware of the imperatives to create jobs, fight poverty and promote shared growth.
Ukuxhasa olu hlahlo lwabiwo-mali, singuKhongolozi sithi, Mphathiswa wezeziMali, kulo nyaka-mali utshintsho kubomi babantu malungqamane neemali ezabelwe amasebe ngamasebe. Akufuneki ukuba kuthi noxa amasebe eyisebenzisile imali, ibe inguqu yona inqongophele ebomini babantu.
Kananjalo, ayamkeleki eyokuba amasebe angakwazi ukuyisebenzisa ngokupheleleyo imali abelwe yona. Silindele ukuba kulo mjikelo amalungu ePalamente awenze ngokuthe ngqo umsebenzi wawo wokuqinisekisa ukuba urhulumente wenza kangangoko anakho ukuqinisekisa ukuba iimfuno namalungelo abantu ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[We, as the ANC, would like to support this budget and further say that it must ensure that it meets and fulfils its developmental roles as allocated to the different departments. There should be evidence among people and communities that monies allocated to and used by departments have fulfilled their intended function, which is to change the lives of people.
Furthermore, it is not acceptable for departments not to use funds allocated to them. This time we expect Members of Parliament to fulfil their mandate of oversight to ensure that people's needs and basic rights ...]
... are met through service delivery to the various sectors of our society.
Xa ndiza kuhlala phantsi, sifuna ukuba kulo nyaka-mali kuthi nokuba bayahamba okanye bayavuka ooMam' uMaRhadebe nooTat'uDlamini, baluve utshintsho oluze nolu hlahlo lwabiwo-mali. Kwaye sihlaba ikhwelo kubasebenzi bakarhulumente, nanjengabantu ekugqibeleni abangqamene ngqo nendlela yokuzisa ezi nkonzo ebantwini, ukuba babhinqe omfutshane kuba kaloku urhulumente ophetheyo akasokuze abheke phambili ngaphandle kokusebenza kwabo. Sithi ke kulo umjikelo umbhalo useludongeni. Ngalo mazwi i-ANC iyawuxhasa lo Mthetho usayilwayo. [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[In conclusion, I would like to say that before and after the Rhadebes and Dlaminis have come and gone, they should experience change brought about by this budget. We call on public servants as the people who directly deal with service delivery, to commit themselves fully because there shall be no progress in this government without their support. This time around the writing is on the wall. With those words I would like to say that the ANC supports this Bill. [Applause.]]
Debate interrupted.